Lack Of Permit Causes Snafu For Authority

Members of the Coaldale-Lansford-Summit Hill Joint Sewer Authority were told this week by the authority's consulting engineer that the agency must find a way to dispose of its filtered sludge.

The authority plans to make necessary repairs and renovations to the main digester plant in the Seek section of Coaldale, but according to Ronald Tirpak, the consulting engineer, the authority no longer holds a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources permit to dispose of the sludge.

Tirpak said the authority has three courses of action to dispose of the sludge without the permit:

- A private contractor could be hired to pump the sludge out of the digester and transport it to a DER approved site for disposal. Tirpak said that course of action could cost an estimated $120,000.

- The sludge could also be pumped from the digester and de-watered. The water would than be returned to the system and the dried remains hauled to a local landfill. Tirpak said such action could cost $65,000.

- Pump the sludge from the digester and take it to an approved disposal site where it would be sprayed onto that land at an estimated cost of $40,000.

Tirpak said the digester will have to be cleared of about 750,000 gallons of water and sludge mix. That amounts to about 45 tons of dried sludge, which will be filtered prior to disposal. The cleaning project was last done in 1983 when the authority had a DER permit to dump the refuse on land at the Panther Valley Division of Bethlehem Mines.

Tirpak will meet with DER officials on Monday to discuss the authority's options.

The authority also will explore the possibility of disposing of the sludge by using it for agricultural purposes. Authority member Walter Strauss of Lansford said the sludge could be taken for "organic farming" and Tom Macenka of Coaldale, another authority member, said he will seek information on the agricultural method of disposal.

In other business, the authority accepted the resignation of John Dubosky of Lansford as authority secretary and unanimously named Robert Lakata of Lansford to the position.